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Friday, November 13, 2015

The Skinny: Los Angeles 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 17

Los Angeles 2, Isles 1

Milan Lucic broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period and the Los Angeles Kings made it stand up for a 2-1 victory over the Islanders, before a sellout crowd of 18,230 at Staples Center. The Isles have won only twice in their last eight games (2-4-2).

The Isles have scored two goals or fewer in 7 of the last 8 games…The Isles had scored only 7 first period goals this season before scoring three over the last two games…This was the second of four straight games against the West; the Isles are 6-2-1 against the West this season…The Kings have sold out 142 consecutive regular season games (172 including playoffs)…Brock Nelson and John Tavares each have three points in the last two games…Milan Lucic's winning goal gives him 25 points (10-15-25) in 26 career games against the Isles…Marek Zidlicky played in his 799th NHL goal…Jarsolav Halak has lost three straight, despite allowing only 7 goals in that stretch.

The Shots:

Isles 13-7-12=32

Los Angeles 8-10-4=22

Home and Road

The Islanders are 8-6-3 overall; 5-3-2 at home and 3-3-1 on the road.

Los Angeles is 10-6-0 overall; 6-5-0 at home and 4-1-0 on the road. The Kings are 10-3-0 after an 0-3-0 start.

By Division

The Isles are 2-0-2 in Division games and are 6-6-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-4-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 3-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 3-1-0 vs. the Pacific Division.

The Isles finished last season 21-6-3 against the Met and 26-22-4 against other Divisions.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves but falls to 4-4-1, despite a 1.88 GAA; he is 6-8-2 in his career against Los Angeles.

Jhonas Enroth made 31 saves to improve to 3-0-0 this season; he has allowed only two goals in the three games. He is 2-3-0 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play (including a 44 second 5-on-3), while Los Angeles was 1-3.

The Isles are 4-2-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-4-1 when they do not. The Isles are 2-4-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-2-2 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 7-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-5-3 when they do not. The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 3-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 2-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts. The Isles are 2-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 6-2-1 when they score first and are 2-4-2 when they allow the opening goal.

Second to The One

Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 173-154-49 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York teams, only the Giants' Tom Coughlin and the Yankees' Joe Girardi have led their respective teams longer than Capuano.

The Isles are 5-13-2 in their last 20 games against Los Angeles, and have scored 3 or fewer goals in each of them.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 11-4-0-0 after a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Providence on Wednesday. Bracken Kearns and Alan Quine had third period goals to give Bridgeport the win. The Sound Tigers visit Hershey on Saturday in their only game in the next week.

Up Next

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13th –ISLANDERS AT ANAHEIM 10:00PM

[MSG+ (Pre-game at 9:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The road trip concludes in Anaheim on Friday. The Isles defeated the Ducks on a John Tavares overtime goal in Anaheim last November before the Ducks won the rematch at the Coliseum.

The Isles are 1-4-0 in their last five vs. the Ducks and are 1-3-1 in their last five trips to Anaheim.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick